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China livid as dissident Liu wins Nobel Peace Prize

08 October 2010 18:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Jailed Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for decades of non-violent struggle for human rights, infuriating China, which called the award "an obscenity", APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€
The prize shines a spotlight on human rights in China at a time when it is starting to play a leading role on the global stage as a result of its growing economic might, and drew muted reactions from the European Union, France and Germany.
Liu rose to prominence as a strike leader during the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989.
He was sentenced to 11 years’ jail last December for writing a manifesto calling for free speech and multi-party elections.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Liu for his "long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights" and reiterated its belief in a "close connection between human rights and peace."
China, which had warned against giving the prize to Liu, said the award would hurt ties with Norway, with which it is currently negotiating a bilateral trade agreement.
"This is an obscenity against the peace prize," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement.
"(Liu’s) actions are diametrically opposed to the aims of the Nobel prize. Nobel’s behest was that the Nobel Peace Prize be awarded to somebody who promoted peace between peoples, promoted international friendship and disarmament."
Beijing residents reported that CNN and BBC broadcasts were cut when the prize was mentioned.
DOWN THE AGENDA
Activists say human rights have dropped down the agenda of Western governments wary of upsetting China, now the world’s second largest economy.
France, Germany and the European Union all congratulated Liu, saying they had lobbied for his release from prison, but avoided direct criticism of China.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the values promoted by Liu were "at the core of the European Union."
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the decision was "courageous" and France’s foreign ministry said it sent "a strong message to everyone fighting peacefully for the promotion and protection of human rights."
Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told Reuters that ignoring the rights situation in China would have undermined the authority of the prize.
"We have to speak when others cannot speak," he said. "As China is rising, we should have the right to criticize."
"It would have been very damaging for the Committee if one could say: ’No, we do not dare to give the prize to someone from this big economic and political power’."
He said China should be under greater scrutiny as it becomes more powerful, just like the United States after World War Two.
The Dalai Lama, whose receipt of the Peace Prize in 1989 similarly angered China, said the prize highlighted "the international community’s recognition of the increasing voices among the Chinese people in pushing China toward political, legal and constitutional reforms."
Liu’s wife, Xia, said she had been surprised by the prize, since "my life has been filled with too many bad things."
"This prize is not only for Xiaobo but for everyone working for human rights and justice in China," she said in an emotional telephone interview with Hong Kong’s Cable television.
OPPORTUNITY FOR CHANGE?
Later she told Reuters: "His friends repeatedly told me that they thirsted for Liu Xiaobo to win the prize more than he himself did because they think it would be an opportunity to change China ...
"Xiaobo is innocent. The constitution guarantees freedom of speech. They (the authorities) broke the law first."
There was a heavy police presence on Friday outside Liu’s apartment in western Beijing.
Liu Xia said Beijing police were taking her to Xiabao’s prison in Jinzhou, in northeastern China, in an apparent effort to prevent foreign reporters speaking to her.
"They are forcing me to leave Beijing," she said as her brothers packed her bags, with plainclothes police waiting for her outside.
Liu, a former literature professor, was jailed last December for subversion of state power. He had been arrested a year earlier as lead author of Charter 08, a manifesto by intellectuals and activists calling for democratic reform in the one-party state.
In 1989, Liu was pilloried by China as one of the "black hands" who fomented the Tiananmen protests, although he was among a group of intellectuals who tried to defuse the standoff before it ended with army shootings that killed hundreds of students and residents.
A 20-month jail sentence followed, and he also spent three years in a "labor re-education" camp in the 1990s.
Passers-by outside the block did not appear impressed by China’s new high-profile dissident.
"I don’t know about that, I just heard about it this morning. Who Liu Xiaobo is I really don’t know," said one man, who declined to give his name.
"The Western world’s choice is different from ours," said another man, who also asked not to be identified. "It does not mean that people receiving the award have contributed to the peace process."
The prize is worth 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.5 million) and will be awarded in Oslo on December 10. It was not immediately known who would collect the prize if Liu could not do so.